Cannabis farms 460/2026

FOI Reference: 460/2026

Request:

I’d be grateful for the following information under the Freedom of Information Act. If possible, please provide annual totals in calendar years. 

1. For the years 2020-25, please give annual totals for the number of cannabis farms your force has discovered. 
2. Of these cannabis farms (1.) how many were found in residential properties? Again, please give annual totals for the years 2020-2025. 
3. Can you put a total street value on the amount of cannabis plants discovered for each year? 
4. Please include details of any measures the force is taking to tackle the use of cannabis farms by organised criminal networks, in particular the trend of repurposing people’s homes to grow the drugs. 

Response:

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1)(a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1)(b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.

I can confirm that the cost of determining whether any information relative to questions 2&3 of this request is or isn’t held is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond therefore we are withholding the whole of the requested information since we consider that the Section 12 (2) exemption the Cost of Compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit applies to it.

Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which: (a) states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies. The following exemption has been applied to the whole of the information you have requested:

Section 12(2) – The cost of compliance exceeds the Appropriate Limit

Section 12(2) states: “…Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.”

The cost of determining what information is held, if any, relevant to questions 2&3 of your request  is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the “appropriate level” as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It is estimated that it would exceed 18 hours (i.e. minimum of 25.49 hours) to comply with your request. The regulations can be located @ https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/3244

The Freedom of Information department has been advised that the information in respect of questions 2&3 of your request is not held in an easily retrievable format. Therefore, in order to establish what information, if any, is held in relation to questions 2&3 of the request would require the individual interrogation of all relevant crime records relating to cannabis farms to ascertain if it relates a residential property and the street value of any cannabis plants discovered. It has been established that for the period as specified within the request (i.e. 2020 – 2025) there are a total 306 crimes relating to cannabis farms that would require researching. It has been estimated that it would take a minimum of 5 minutes to research a single crime for relevance to questions 2&3 of your request as outlined above, resulting in the following broken down time estimate.

2020 = 73 crimes at a min of 5 minutes per crime = 6.08 hours

2021 = 49 crimes at a min of 5 minutes per crime = 4.08 hours

2022 = 42 crimes at a min of 5 minutes per crime = 3.50 hours

2023 = 45 crimes at a min of 5 minutes per crime = 3.75 hours

2024 = 49 crimes at a min of 5 minutes per crime = 4.08 hours

2025 = 48 crimes at a min of 5 minutes per crime = 4.00 hours

Total of 25.49 hours to complete task

Please note: A response to questions 1 and 4 have been outlined at the end of the document and have been provided as a gesture of goodwill and outside of the FOI Act.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for the WHOLE of this request under Section 17(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information, is relying on a claim that section 12 or section 14 applies must, within the time for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that fact.

You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the time shown above to fall within the 18 hours. Should you require any further advice in relation to this matter please don’t hesitate to contact the Freedom of Information Unit. Please also be advised that should the request be refined, it does not remove the Force’s right to cite exemptions if relevant.

Although excess cost removes the forces obligations under the Freedom of Information Act to provide any further information, as a gesture of goodwill, I have provided information, relative to questions 1 & 4 of your request which has been easily retrievable and outlined below. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request.

Question 1:

Please note: The below figures are collated from the following offences. From 01/01/20 – 11/05/23 ‘Produce/Cultivation of Controlled Drugs’ Offences with ‘Cannabis’ mentioned in the crime summary. From 12/05/23 onwards ‘Production of a cannabis plant’ offences.

Question 4:

The force launched Operation Scotney in 2024 which was specifically intended to target Organised Crime Group networks infiltrating Heddlu Dyfed Powys Police and using disused premises and domestic rented premises to grow cannabis. As such this operation has convicted vast number of persons for cultivation and trafficking offences and seized approx. £20 million street value of cannabis.

Please see the below link which may be of interest:

Operation Scotney | Dyfed-Powys Police

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 08/06/2026)